Articles

Introduction Even before the Scofield Reference Bible became so popular, the notion that God chose different ways of saving sinners at different times in man’s history was rife. Under this notion – known as Dispensationalism – the world is seen as a household administered by God at several stages of revelation, each stage placing on […]

We look at one verse, Matthew 2:15, in three tenses. ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’. With due deference to Mr Charles Dickens, and especial apologies to Mr Ebenezer Scrooge, we will vary a certain well-known Christmas story by entitling our three points ‘The Quote of Scripture Past’, ‘The Quote of Scripture Present’, and […]

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. 1 Corinthians 2:12. We possess a veritable gold mine of spiritual riches which many of us seem utterly to neglect. I am speaking of the […]

One of the things that arose in Lee Gatiss’s paper at the Westminster Conference this year1 on the Great Ejection of 1662 was the question of the number of those ejected.2 In Gary Brady’s book The Great Ejection 1662 (E.P.) he says the following: Estimates vary but it seems that, including those ejected before 1662 […]

Pakistan is an Islamic country with 97% of the population considered to be Muslims. Christians are a very small minority and Protestants a small proportion of this. To be a Protestant Christian in Pakistan is costly. Employment becomes difficult and reproach and persecution are the expected result for those who profess faith in the Lord […]

In 1 Timothy 5:24 Paul says that the sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgement ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them.Jimmy Savile is a case in point. Some did have their doubts about him and some few knew there was a problem, but until only a few months […]

Dr. Haddon W. Robinson is the Harold John Ockenga Distinguished Professor of Preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Massachusetts. He is considered the doyen of teachers on the subject of preaching in the USA, and his text books are used in many American seminaries. In a recent interview in the magazine Ministry he was asked the […]

Romans 9:11-13 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad – in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls – she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ Just as it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’ […]

It is only too easy for Christians to become daunted and deeply pessimistic. The world we live in is a dark and presently an ever-darkening, place. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is increasingly and publicly mocked and marginalized throughout society, particularly in the media. Our Government passes legislation that defies the living God. […]

Pavel Setchov, youth leader in Tobols I was born in 1978 in the south of Russia in an area known as the Caucasus, in the town of Zhelyeznovodsk. When I was only five years old my father left my mother to bring up three children on her own. He sometimes returned home aggressively abusive and […]

I am the Lord—I will not give My praise to graven images—Sing to the Lord a new song—you islands, and all those who dwell on them. Isaiah 42:8-10 After King Kamehameha consolidated his power in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) in the early 1800’s, he ruled with unbridled power. The Kapu religious system demanded human sacrifice […]

. . . but to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at my word. Isaiah 66:2 When the Puritans came to the Massachusetts Bay in 1630 under the leadership of John Winthrop, they came humbly, expectantly, seeking earnestly to fear and honour God, to […]

Wednesday night I was on my own in London. Such a void in the schedule gives me the chance to taxi in from Chelsea Harbour to Central London to Foyles, my favorite bookstore in all the world. The distinctive, boxy, black London taxi is a masterpiece of western civilization. In no other city can one […]

Introduction Someone once said that, if you want to be eternally relevant, you need to stop trying to say things that are relevant and focus on saying things that are eternal. Some ministers write their sermons according to what has featured in the news that week. When I was training for the ministry, a former […]

The finances of the Roman Catholic Church tend to be well concealed. But a spate of bankruptcy cases in the US (8 out of 196 dioceses, with Honolulu teetering on the brink) has enabled The Economist to examine the situation in that country in more detail than is usually possible. There are 74 million people […]